Innovation Hub

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Summary

The NIST Research Library’s Innovation Hub provides NIST scientists with space, tools, and resources for innovative experimentation that they may not have available in their labs. Tools and resources include 3-D printers, a data visualization wall, access to software, and a technology bar.

Description

The Innovation Hub at the Research Library provides NIST staff with access to tools, software, and services. The project was launched in December 2013 with two 3-D printers and has since expanded to include access to software programs, 3-D scanners, large format printers, a video display wall, and more than two dozen devices on the Technology Bar.

A series of data visualization resources and programs support collaboration and external communication at NIST. Since their launch in 2017, these tools have supported application development in robotics, fire research, and high performance visualization. Products include:

the data visualization wall, a large-scale video display with a touch control console

a data visualization computer with access to a variety of visualization tools on a powerful computing platform

Over two thousand prints have been produced at the Library since the 3-D printer program’s inception, allowing NIST researchers to create research apparatus, data visualizations, and prototypes. A 3-D scanner, a Sprout 3-D design computer, and a series of modeling programs support the effort. Library staff conduct monthly training sessions.